Monday, November 5, 2012

Come Wednesday, no more $3 pitches

There is one aspect of the post-election cycle period that I’m looking forward too – the fact that my e-mail box associated with this weblog will no longer be cluttered with attempts by the Barack Obama presidential campaign to solicit my money.

OBAMA: $3 at a time

I can’t remember the last day that went by without my receiving something (usually several) asking me for something resembling a donation.

AND FOR WHAT it’s worth, the Obama people seem to like to play up the guilt factor more than my own mother ever did with me.

How many times have I been informed that some big corporate interest has a political action committee that just kicked in many millions of dollars – so now it’s up to me to help Democratic political interests try to match that so that Obama and his potential political allies don’t get grossly out-spent!

There also are the personal pitch e-mail messages meant for me to think that allegedly important people are taking the time to contact me personally.

Obama himself quite often, along with first lady Michelle. Then, there’s the celebrity crowd. I don’t really believe that singer Barbara Streisand took the time to write me a note – even though I got something from an e-mail account in her name.

THE SAME WITH comedian Al Franken – although my brother reminded me that the 1980s were the “Al Franken Decade,” which means his time to be influential is long-past!

Perhaps he can write a sequel book to his previous volume (entitled, “Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot”) about his use in this campaign cycle.

ROMNEY: Going for bigger fish

The guilt factor even played on Sunday, as I received a message informing me that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (which is trying to get a Democrat-leaning House of Representatives in place to back Obama) has records indicating that I have donated NOTHING during this particular election cycle.

It also tells me that, “it’s critical that (I) make (my) donation immediately.” Or else it will be my fault if an Obama presidency gets stuck for the next two years with a Congress openly hostile toward his goals and desires.

MATCH THIS UP with an e-mail message I also received Sunday, telling me I should go to the campaign office nearest my home so I can help work the telephones for the next two days – all to try to persuade people to make a campaign contribution on behalf of Obama.

It has got to the point where I usually delete most of these messages from my e-mail box unread. It isn’t worth my time to read these generic pleas that are meant to appear as though they are personal.

In all honesty, I figure that Barbara Streisand is really trying to contact me about as much as that guy in Nigeria is a real-life human being in need of my assistance (and not just access to my bank accounts).

Why do I suspect that if it were possible, the Democratic political interests would just ask me to cough up an account number so they could make withdrawals as desired?

OF COURSE, I shouldn’t make this sound like purely a Democratic Party tactic. Republicans have their own ways of playing political hardball to get people to make financial donations to help pay for their political candidates who wish to overthrow the memory of the past four years. I also got an e-mail Sunday from "Mitt Romney" telling me how much he appreciates my "intensity" (and financial help) to bolster his own campaign.

And I got onto some Republican and Libertarian candidate e-mail lists (I get Gary Johnson updates, but nowhere near as many as the Obama camp sends out) in the same way I got onto the Obama lists – I signed up for e-mail alerts out of the hope it would give me an occasional tip as to what the campaigns are doing!

I haven’t donated to any campaign, ever in my life, and not just because I’m a cheapskate. It’s about that desire to appear disinterested in the outcome of Tuesday’s elections. I’m not among those who on Wednesday will be wishing they had written out “One More Check” to pay for another negative campaign ad on behalf of their candidate.

Because the bottom line is that the republic will continue to exist; no matter which side on Wednesday is convinced that the “End of the World!!!” has arrived because their guy lost!

I am a Chicago-area freelance writer who has reported on various political and legal beats. I wrote "Hispanic" issues columns for United Press International, observed up close the Statehouse Scene in Springfield, Ill., and for a time, I also wrote about agriculture. Trust me when I say the symbolic stench of partisan politics (particularly when directed against people due to their ethnicity) is far nastier than any odor that could come from a farm animal.